NEWS FROM THE WAGNER SOCIETY

For more information, Thomas Arthur (press)

Aurelius Fernandez, 301.907.2600 (general)

WASHINGTON, JANUARY, 2006 –– The Wagner Society of Washington, D.C. presents

SIMON WILLIAMS

COMING TO TERMS WITH HISTORY:

NIETZSCHE AND THE RING

The illustrated lecture will be on Thursday, February 23, 2006, at 7:30 P.M. at the George Washington University, Funger Hall, 2201 G Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. It will be free and open to the public.

THE PRESENTATION Simon Williams believes that Europe in the nineteenth century experienced such radical change in all facets of life that, as if in denial of this, in much of its art and culture it attempted to recreate the experience of past ages. Utilizing Nietzsche’s ideas as expounded in some of his early essays in Untimely Meditations, Professor Williams will explore how Wagner’s works, and The Ring of the Nibelung especially, reflect the various attitudes of the nineteenth century toward history, attitudes that, as the century advanced, became increasingly troubling. He will demonstrate how “the “trouble” with history can be seen as one of the major preoccupations of The Ring.

SIMON WILLIAMS is Chairman and Professor of Dramatic Arts and Dance at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has taught at universities on four continents, including the University of Regina, Alberta, at Cornell, and since 1984, the University of California. He has published widely in the fields of European theater, the history of acting, Shakespearean performance practice, operatic history, and Wagner’s operas. His major publications include German Actors of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (Greenwood, 1985), Shakespeare on the German Stage, 1586-1914 (Cambridge, 1990), Richard Wagner and Festival Theatre (Greenwood, 1984), and most recently, Richard Wagner and the Romantic Hero (Cambridge, 2004). He is an active director and reviewer of opera. He is also a frequent lecturer at the Bayreuth Festival and at the Wagner Society’s annual spring retreat, Wagner in der Wildnis, which will take place this year on June 2-4, and which will be devoted to Wagner’s Parsifal.

THE WAGNER SOCIETY is a private, non-profit organization devoted to the study and enjoyment of Richard Wagner’s art. The Society welcomes new members and contributions at any time. Membership information is available at the Society’s website or by telephone.

THE WAGNER SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

P.O. Box 33051

Washington, D.C. 20033

Telephone 301.907.2600 ■ Facsimile 301.907.8671

www.wagner-dc.org